Monday, October 7, 2024

Broadway Holiday Receipts Zoomed Up by $12 Million with Several House Records Broken, “Wicked,” “Lion King” Crack $4 Million

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Broadway went bananas during Christmas week.

Total tickets sold were at a stunning $45 million, up dramatically from $33 million before Christmas.

Several shows broke house records including “Six” and “Gutenberg.”

“The Lion King” and “Wicked” cracked the $4 million mark each for one week’s run.

“MJ,” “Hamilton, “Back to the Future,” and “Sweeney Todd” were well over $2 million each.

Even shows that you thought everyone had seen were full. “Chicago” did twice its normal business at $1.4 million.

The only two laggards really were Barry Manilow’s “Harmony” and Neil Diamond’s “A Beautiful Noise.” It’s hard to imagine that either will it through January but we’ll see. “Shucked” got a nice jolt from the holiday as did “Kimnerly Akimbo.”

Even plays were full, like “Appropriate” with Sarah Paulson and “I Did That” with Danny DeVito.

Now comes long, gloomy January and February, although a ton of shows will open for this Tony season, more than in several years, so hang on.

Broadway always rebounds. Max Bialystock would be so proud!

PS Go see “Spamalot.” It’s hilarious — maybe even better than the first one. And also, Sutton Foster and Aaron Tveit are coming to take over “Sweeney Todd” later this month. Not to be missed!

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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